Page 69 of Ride Long
“I know a place by Joshua Tree, off sixty-two,” Deluca said. “Out of the way but stillclose.”
“What’s itlike?”
“A cabin my old man passed down to me. In the desert, away from the city. It’s out in the open, but we’d see the others coming at least a few miles off. Nothing much moves outthere.”
“Anyone else know about this place?” Gasketasked.
“No one knows about it, so we have a good chance of goingundetected.”
“It’s a cabin,” Spike said. “There’s thirty of us, countin’ the girls,andwe’ve gotMarini.”
“There’s room,” Deluca stated. “You’ll see when we getthere.”
“Right,” Gasket declared, taking charge. “Deluca, mark this cabin on a map for us. We’ll split into fives, take separate routes, and meet there in two hours. You’ve got five minutes to collect anything you want to take. That goes for the women upstairs. Merrick. Gage.” He snapped his fingers. “Do one last sweep of the compound, and clear it out. We don’t want to be leaving any presents for theothers.”
I hung back as the bikers crowded around and synchronized their cell phones, watching the commotion unfold. Though, one eye was firmly stuck on the trunk of the car next to me. I almost expected it to burst open like a screwed-up jack-in-the-box, but all wasstill.
“Do you need anything from your room?” Chaser asked, lingering beside me. “We won’t be able to come back here for awhile.”
“No,” I said, shaking my head. “It’s just stuff.” I had all I needed in mypocket.
“What about yourlaptop?”
“That life is gone, Chaser. I should’ve thrown it into the lake with mytextbook.”
He narrowed his eyes but didn’t offer any commentary or reassurances. He knew I didn’t needthem.
“Then we’d better get with our road crew.” He nodded toward the garagedoor.
Spotting his motorcycle outside, I tensed. It had been years since I’d ridden onone.
“I won’t let you fall off,” Chaser said with asmirk.
I rolled my eyes and snatched up the helmet hanging off the handlebars. It was going to be a longride.
